Attaining
by pandora1017
Summary: Amy and Matt had a falling out. So why does she turn to *Matt's* best friend for... um, support? [A stand alone, but also a sequel to 'Learning Process'!]
1. We had a fight [1/3]

Title: "Attaining"

Author: pandora1017

Rating: R

Content: Language, sexual situations, and a little slash

Characters:  
Adam = Adam Copeland = Edge  
Jay = Jason Reso = Christian  
Amy = Amy Dumas = Lita  
Matt = Matt Hardy  
Jeff = Jeff Hardy  
Scott = Scott Levy = Raven  
Chris = Chris Irvine = Chris Jericho  
Rob = Rob Van Dam = Rob [I don't know how to spell his real last name...] 

.

I don't know what it was about her that made it so I could hardly take my eyes off her.

Ok, so maybe I did.

It was actually a combination of lots of things. It was the way she always had a smile for everyone. The way she could crack a joke about anything, just like one of the guys. The way she could light up a room by just being there.

It was the way she knew what clothes fit her **just right** to show off her best features - and if they didn't, the way she tailored them herself to make them do so. It was the innate sense of style. It was the way that her dark red hair fell perfectly, no matter how she wore it. It was the cute locks she had dyed brighter red underneath her hair.

It was her inner strength, how she could look so sweet and gentle that you wanted to hold her to protect her from the world, but you still knew that she could kick your ass any day of the week.

It was also the distinct face, the high cheekbones, the perfect eyebrows, the sweet hazel eyes...

I could go on.

But I couldn't do anything but look on as she stretched out for her match tonight. She was my best friend's girl.

I shuddered and hung my head. It was the way she made me quote Rick Springfield.

"You ok, Adam?"

I looked up suddenly and found the object of my longing watching me, concerned. I tensed involuntarily. "What?"

"Are you ok? You look kind of down."

I couldn't help but smile at her concern, and she returned the favor with one of her precious smiles. "No, I'm ok, Amy, I just got a bad song stuck in my head."

She laughed. "Oh, god, I hate when that happens! Actually, right now, I have your old theme song stuck in my head."

I grinned back. "I'm sorry."

"Should be," she answered, punching my shoulder playfully. I played hurt, just like every guy does when a cute girl hits him, and she smiled again. "Hey, heard any good jokes lately?"

I shrugged, trying to think of something. "Yeah, actually, I got one."

"Oh yeah?" She turned and hopped up to sit on the tech box I'd been watching her from, next to me. "Let's hear it."

If it was possible for me to tense more, I did. But I tried to not show it. "So this pirate walks into a bar and orders a drink. The bartender says, 'Buddy, you know you got a steering wheel hanging from your fly?' And the pirate answers, 'Argh, I know! It's driving me nuts!'"

She laughed again. Her laugh was just a little too loud, which made it even cuter. I grinned. I'd been meaning to tell her that one for a while. After a second, we fell into a silence.

"So, where's Matt?"

"What?" Amy asked quickly, as if she'd heard the question perfectly.

"Isn't your guys' match soon?"

She looked away, sighing. "Yeah. We had a fight."

I hesitated long enough to repress the urge to put my arm around her to comfort her. "Oh, I'm sorry, Amy. I didn't know. Do you want to talk -"

"No."

I nodded, surprised at her abruptness. "Ok, but if you ever need to..."

"Sure." She looked up with a forced smile. "Thanks, Adam."

At this, Matt showed up. He noticed Amy and I right away, and looked away, quickly, looking hurt. Amy looked up to me and shrugged. "See you later."

With that, she jumped off the box and went over to Matt, but not to close. Usually, those two were inseperable, but now it looked like there was about five feet of space between them. If Matt moved closer, Amy moved away to compensate. And vice versa. Wow, this was not good. I watched, curious. News usually travels pretty quickly around here, and I was surprised I hadn't heard about this yet. Suddenly, I realized how awkward this situation really was. They were supposed to go out and act like a couple, but the wouldn't even come within five feet of each other back here? We would find out now, I thought, as Matt's music hit and the two ducked through the curtain. After a minute, Scott Levy came over to wait for his music. The raven's caw sounded and he went through the curtain as well. I watched this silently, my mind still on Amy and Matt.

"Hey, Adam!"

I looked up again, down the hall. My childhood best friend, Jay Reso, came down the hall, freshly showered from his match and changed back into street clothes, like myself. I'd been waiting for him to get ready to go so we could get a hotel for the night. I answered him somberly when he came closer. "Hey, Jay. What's up?"

"You sound pretty happy tonight," Jay answered with a grin.

I shrugged. "Eh, I'm ok. What are you up to?"

"Looking for Jeff."

"Typical."

Jay shrugged, conceding. "He didn't have a match tonight, so he's just waiting for Matt and Amy. We're waiting to see what that's going to be like. He's been playing mediator for the day."

I raised an eyebrow. "Come again?"

"You haven't heard?"

"Amy mentioned some fight in passing..."

"Amy?!" Jay asked, surprised. "You're on her side?"

"Her side? I'm on no one's side. I haven't heard anything."

"Anythin' 'bout what?" a soft voice drawled. Jay and I looked up as Jeff Hardy came up behind Jay, wrapping his arms around Jay's waist. "Hey, baby."

"Hey, Jeff, I was looking for you."

"Ah found ya," Jeff smirked. Jay grinned and turned partially to give him a quick kiss.

I figured I should be more pissed that my best friend had ditched me for a scrawny farmboy with rainbow colored hair, but I couldn't really bring myself to it because they were so damn cute together. No, seriously, I'd never seen Jay this happy in my life and it made me happy to see him this happy. If only they weren't so sugar sweet every once in a while. It was especially brutal because I hadn't been in a decent relationship in years that I had to watch this almost daily.

"So what don'tcha know anythin' 'bout?" Jeff repeated, leaning over to rest his chin on Jay's shoulder.

"Amy and Matt." Jay answered for me.

"Y'don't?" Jeff asked, letting go of Jay and looking at me, surprised. "Aw, man, Ah thought everyone knew by now!"

"Knew what?!" I asked, starting to get frustrated.

Jay and Jeff exchanged glances before Jeff sighed and answered. "Amy cheated on Matt."

I stuttered for a bit, not able to form words. Then, finally, "Sh.. sh.. she.. she what?"

"Sh'slept with another man." Jeff repeated more bluntly.

"Which one?"

"Scott."

There were many Scotts. "Scott...?"

Jeff and Jay silently turned and pointed to the monitor across the room. My jaw dropped. "Raven?"

I jumped off the tech box and went for a closer look at the monitor with Jeff and Jay following me. "This must be torture."

Jay sighed. "You can't really ask the office to change a match for that reason."

I watched as Scott irish-whipped Matt into a corner and dove for a splash, which he scored on. I didn't know Scott very well, but he seemed to be acting normal. Matt, on the other hand, just looked listless. He looked like a machine out there, just going through the motions. It was obvious his head wasn't in the match. I couldn't stand to watch it, so I turned back to Jeff and Jay. Jeff was leaning over, his hands on his knees, watching, and Jay was resting his arms on Jeff's shoulders. They never quit.

"Ah don't see how he can do this..."

"The poor guy."

"It's a good thin' that he doesn't win, so he doesn't have t'celebrate with Amy. That might be too much f' him."

I stood there in silence. I didn't know what to say. How could Amy do that? I thought she was so... I hesitated. I still liked her. Even after hearing what she had done, I couldn't get her out of my head. I should be thinking of Matt right now, but all I could think of was Amy. I hung my head again and went back to the tech box. Jeff was engrossed with the match, but Jay saw me and followed.

"You ok, man?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just..."

Jay's jaw dropped as it dawned on him. Even though he was with Jeff, he was still my best friend. He could read me like a book. "You still -"

I cut him off with a sharp look and he stopped. Luckily, he realized that might not be the best thing to say around Jeff just yet. "You want to go back to the hotel? I can meet up with Jeff later..."

"Ah think it might be a good idea f' y't'talk t'him, Adam," Jeff interrupted suddenly, coming back over to us. "You're one of his best friends. He could use that right now."

I looked up at Jeff. I wasn't so sure that was a good idea. The look that Jay was giving me showed that he was thinking the same thing as me. I sighed.

"Yeah, I suppose I should talk to him."

"Are you sure?" Jay asked.

I nodded. "It might help."

"Well, Ah don't want t'be around when Matt an' Amy get back here. I've had enough of that f' a while." He shrugged and arched a brow to Jay, holding out his hand. "Y'comin'?"

Jay took his hand and squeezed it shortly then shook his head. "I'll catch up with you in a bit, kid, I need to talk to Adam for a minute."

"Sure. Catch y'two later."

Jay and I waved as Jeff headed off. Before either of us could say anything, Raven's music hit again. I guess the match was over. As we couldn't talk over the music very well, we just waited. When Scott came back, he noticed us. Jay cast him a dirty look, but he walked away with out reacting. When he was out of earshot, Jay turned back to me.

"Are you sure you want to talk to him? In your... condition?"

"You make it sound like a disease."

"With her..."

"Hey!" I stopped short when I found myself defending her. "Shit, I don't know. But I do think I should be there for Matt. I can control it, I swear."

"Whatever, man, I'm just -"

I cut him off with quick hand gesture. Amy and Matt were coming through the curtain right now. I looked up and tried to make eye contact with Matt, but he was busy examining the floor. As soon as the two were past the curtain, they immediately went opposite directions. Matt took off to the left quickly. Amy, however, took only a few steps to the right, then stopped when Matt turned a corner. I looked up at her, curiously, and she just smiled, then kept walking.

"Adam..." Jay drew out my name warningly.

"I didn't do anything, man."

Jay sighed. "You're going to talk to Matt?"

"Yeah. I'm going to let him take a shower, then..."

"Good luck. Find me when you're done so we can go find a hotel."

"Will do."

I watched Jay walked away, then dropped my head into my hands again. Why did things have to be so complicated?


	2. Ah still love her [2/3]

I honestly had no idea how long I'd been staring vacantly at the locker room door in front of me. Maybe I should knock on the door.

"Come in," a voice called from inside. I hesitantly set my hand on the door knob and turned it. Matt looked up at my reflection in the mirror in front of him with the emotion I'd seen from him all night - pure curiosity. When he saw it was me, he cast me a half-hearted smile, then went back to digging through his duffel bag.

"Hey, Matt."

"Adam," he greeted me. "What's up?"

I cleared my throat. "I heard about..."

He stopped and closed his eyes. "Yeah."

"Matt, do you -"

"Ah'm all right," he said, opening his eyes again. He pulled his Hardyz motorcross jersey out of his bag and slid it over his head. Then he continued digging through his bag. I sighed. This wasn't going to be pretty.

Matt and I became friends pretty quickly when we first met because we had something unusual in common. Our best friends growing up had both been bisexual. And they had finally fallen in love. With each other. That had made some pretty interesting conversation early on, but through that we found that we had a lot in common. He was a good kid, all in all. Even though he was from the South. But he had proven himself to be more than I'd expected. He'd even come to be someone I cared about, which was why I was here now.

"It's all right, Matt, you can talk to me," I said, crossing the room to him.

"Ah already said Ah'm all right," Matt said. I got the feeling he was trying to control his temper. I set my hand reassuringly on his shoulder and he closed his eyes again, slamming his fist on the counter in front of him.

"Christ, Adam, d'y'know what th'worst part is?"

"No, what's -"

"Ah still love her."

I stopped. God, things were getting twisted. "I'm sure -"

"Ah still love her, Adam. Sh'cheated on me, an' Ah still love her."

"Matt -"

"When sh'was tellin' me 'bout..." Matt sighed, "**it**, Ah was waitin' f' her t'apologize so Ah could forgive her, but when sh'finally said 'sorry,' it was followed by 'but Ah don't think we can be t'gether anymore.'"

I moved to put a consoling arm around Matt but he just shoved me off and spun away to a bench in the middle of the room, which he fell onto rather heavily. I followed, not having much other option.

"I'm sorry, Matt, is there anything I can do?"

Matt ran his hand through his still damp hair with frustration. "It shoulda been me. Ah shoulda been th'one t'break up with her. Ah didn't do anythin' wrong, sh'slept with someone else. But Ah'm not mad. Sh'hurt **me**, then dumped **me**."

"You wanted to dump her?" I asked, slightly confused.

"No! Ah wanted t'forgive her."

I sighed. At least I knew Matt felt the same way I did. Wait! Did I just say that? I put a hand to my forehead, frustrated. She had screwed him over, he hadn't done anything wrong. I needed to get that girl out of my head. I wanted to ask if she had given any explaination of her actions, but quickly decided that Matt might not be the best person to ask that. So what do I say to him now? 'I'm sorry' doesn't help. He won't agree with 'You're better off.' I can't insult her or tell him that she'll be back. Hell, I didn't even know what had happened, maybe she had good reason... And there I go defending her again. I sighed and looked back down to Matt who was slouching on the bench in front of me. I saw him bring his hand to his forehead and realized he was subtly trying to wipe away tears. I licked my lips nervously, then set my hand on his shoulder again.

"I'm here for you, man. If you need to talk - if you need anything. Just say the word."

"That means a lot t'me, Adam, but Ah don't think Ah'm ready t'talk jus' yet." Matt sighed and wiped his eyes again, openly this time. "But Ah appreciate y'listenin' t'what Ah had t'say so far."

"Anytime. You know that if Jeff and Jay get their way, we'll be in the same hotel tonight, just ask Jeff where we are. I'll be there if you need to talk."

"Yeah, thanks." He wiped away a few more tears and got back to his feet, facing me. "Ah better get m'shit t'gether, Ah'm sure Jeff wants t'get out of here sometime t'night. Hell, he didn't even have a match t'night."

"Sure, Matt. Sure." I slowly nodded, then backed off. Matt gave me another half-hearted smile and turned away from me. I guess that was my cue to leave. I went over to the door, then stopped with my hand on the door knob. "Are you...? Nevermind."

It probably wasn't a good idea to ask if he was still traveling with Amy.

"Am Ah what?"

"Nothing, it was nothing."

"Ah'll see y'later, Adam."

I sighed one last time. "Don't worry, Matt, it'll be fine."

He turned back to me suddenly, looking me square in the eyes, and I finally saw the pain he was feeling. It was terrible. He cast yet another half-hearted smile that didn't quite make it to his eyes. "Ah know it will. Thanks."

I nodded, feeling silly still, and went out into the hall. I think now was an appropriate time to find Jay and pump him for more details of the situation. I realized how truly simple this would be when I looked up and saw that Jeff had Jay pinned up against the wall across the hall in a heavy make-out session. I cleared my throat. This caused them to jump rather comedically.

"Oh, ah... um..." Jay sputtered for a moment.

"Can't find your tongue? I think Jeff might have it."

Jay blushed, which was unusual for him. Jeff, however, just smirked and took ahold of Jay's hand. "Y'can have it back. Here."

He took Jay's face in his free hand for another kiss and I rolled my eyes. I would have complained, but, as before, that cuteness factor was overwhelming. I cleared my throat again. Jeff turned back to me, beaming. Jay wasn't looking to miffed, either.

"How's m'brother?"

I shrugged. "Not in a talking mood."

"We want t'see him."

"No way," I answered quickly.

"What d'y'mean, 'no way'? Ah have a right t'see m'brother when ever Ah want t'see him," Jeff shot back, getting defensive.

"Sure, you do. But not Jay. And definitely not you **with** Jay. The last thing he needs to see is you two lovebirds in his condition."

Jay nudged Jeff. "He's right."

"Ah guess so," Jeff looked back up to me, smirking again. "F'once."

"You just keep telling yourself that, Farmer Joe."

Jeff looked back up at me with a blythe smile and ignored the comment. Jay stole back his attention, though, by tugging his hand. "Hey, Adam and I are going to go find a hotel. I'll call you when we check in and let you know where we are."

"All right," Jeff answered, sounding slightly reluctant. Jay gave him a short kiss goodbye. I'd seen this before. That was never enough. Well, enough for them, at least. I started off down the hall, I'd seen plenty.

"Hang on, Adam, I'm coming!" Jay called after me.

"I'll believe it when I see it," I muttered.

"I heard that!"

"You were supposed to."

Their goodbyes usually lasted as long as the visit itself. I wasn't going to just stand around and watch that. After I had gone about a hundred feet, I finally heard Jay's footsteps following me at a jogging pace.

"Ah'll see y'later, Adam, dear," Jay called after me in a sickeningly sweet tone. I held up my hand in an obscene gesture behind me as Jay and I kept walking. Jay didn't do anything, he rather accepted Jeff's and my pseudo-hatred.

"So what'd Matt say?"

"Oh.. just..."

"What?" Jay pressed.

"That he still loves Amy."

Jay nodded. "Yeah, he told Jeff that, too."

"I don't understand."

"Neither does Jeff."

"What happened?"

"How do you mean?"

"Did Amy try to explain herself at all?"

"Oh, yeah. She said that Matt was nice, but she wanted a little variation. She was too young to be tied down to one person."

"You would think she should have told that to Matt before she slept with someone else."

Jay shrugged. "Hey, personally, I just think girls are irrational. Guys are much more straightforward. We don't have problems like this, for the most part."

"That'd be because you've found your soulmate. I remember you whining about insensitive guys back in the pre-Jeff era."

Jay shrugged. "Those don't count."

I smiled and shook my head. "Very rational, Jay."

"I know it."

We walked in silence for a moment, then came to the locker room where we had left our bags. Chris was in there, getting his things together after his match as well.

"Hello, boys," he greeted us broadly.

I grinned. "Hey, nice match tonight."

"Of course," he answered, still playing cocky. Then he added, slightly downplaying, "Yours was.. nice, too... I'm sure."

Jay stopped in the middle of the room. "Wait, didn't you guys fight each other...?"

"Yes, Junior," Chris said, setting a hand on Jay's shoulder and explaining as if he were a child. Jay gave him a mock dirty look, then Chris waved as he opened the door. "So long! Farewell! Auf Wiedersehen -!"

"**Goodbye**!" Jay and I called in unison, finishing his verse. Chris gave us a confused look, then let the door slam behind him, and I shook my head, laughing.

"So now what?" Jay asked, suddenly.

"What?"

"What do you do about Amy?"

"Me? Nothing. I stay far, **far** away from her."

Jay shrugged. "I guess that's one solution."

"The more relevant question is what do I do about Matt?"

"I wish I could help you, man."

"Yeah, me too," I replied. "Hey, I've got a question. I was going to ask Matt, but rational thinking got the better of me."

"Hey, what's that feel like?" Jay asked with a grin. I smiled.

"No, seriously. Are Amy and Matt still traveling together?"

"She can't really walk to SmackDown. I guess her other option would be to ride with Scott, but I don't think Rob would take kindly to that."

"Wow, that sucks for Matt."

"Yeah, and Jeff."

"What?"

"Well, Amy's not talking to Matt anymore, so he just has to deal with her presence. Jeff has to deal with the two trying to see whose side he's on. The poor kid..."

"That's an ugly situation."

"That said..."

"What?"

"I guess you'll understand if Jeff just happens to end up staying with us tonight..."

"I don't even know what to do with you sometimes, Jay."

"You know you love me."

I shook my head at the ramifications of that one and picked up my bag. "Let's get out of here."


	3. Way to kick Matt while he's down [3/3]

Right now, I was in that fun state of being conscious and unconscious at the same time. It had been a long day, and I had reached this state as soon as my head hit the pillow. My thoughts began to drift in random directions that seemed perfectly logical to me as I took in only the blackness and silence of the room. Jay had left with Jeff a couple hours ago and not come back yet. I didn't even want to start to think about that one. So I turned my attention to my roomkey.

It had disappeared almost as soon as Jay and I had checked in, almost as if I'd never had it. We had checked in with the Hardys and spent a couple minutes in the lobby with them, but then when I got up to my room, the key was already gone. Jay had to let me in. Of course, I had been in this half-sleep state from the second I turned off the car when we got here. Maybe I had never really had a key at all... Maybe that crazy clerk with the shifty eyes was actually playing a trick on me. Yes, that was most likely -

I heard the door open and shut quickly, but still quietly. I was much too lazy to focus my attention on the clock to see what time Jay had come in, and even more too lazy to chide him for it. Instead, I remained in my prone position, sprawled comfortably over the bed and suddenly relished in the fact that Jay had been good to us this time and got a two bed room. I had a whole twin bed to myself and I intended to use it. That is, until someone lightly ran their hand from my shoulder to my elbow. Random, that used to be Jay's polite way of telling me to shove over and give him some space. I could have sworn we had a two bed room, this must have been the smallest full bed ever. I groaned and rolled over onto my side, grudgingly, immediately curling up with my pillow and most likely having never fully woken up. I felt someone else sit on the bed behind me and shift into a comfortable position. At this point in time, I didn't really care if it was a one bed or two bed room, I just wanted to sleep. But I could tell from the way that a hand caressed over my side and started rubbing my chest that Jay was not thinking on the same lines.

Still not even opening my eyes, I sighed and muttered through a haze of sleep, "Jay, I don't care how much you had to drink tonight. It's not going to happen."

All I got in response was a girl's giggle. That woke me up. I suddenly realized how small the hand that was touching me was. And the arm connected to it was well defined, but not nearly as large as Jay's. She shifted and pressed up against my back, spooning me, and I fully realized how little she was Jay.

"Jesus Christ!" I jumped out of her hold and found myself sitting at the head of the bed fumbling for the lamp switch. When I finally found it, the light showed me that Amy was laying on her stomach, halfway under the covers, propping her head up on her hands.

"Hey, Adam," she said, with an adorable smirk. Her hair fell forward over her shoulders and framed her face perfectly. Her eyes shone warmly in the dim light and I almost felt like I could just take her into my arms and kiss her.

No, that was wrong. I sighed. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm staying in this hotel, too."

"I mean in my bed. How'd you get in the room?"

"I found your key," she answered, shifting momentarily to pull it out of her pocket to show it to me.

I snatched it out of her hand with an annoyed look. "Where, in my wallet?"

Amy shrugged, innocently. "Maybe."

I did a double take, not expecting that answer. "Thank you for returning it, but you can go now."

She shifted and got on her hands and knees. "What if I don't want to?"

"I don't think that's one of your options."

"Sure it is," she pressed, practically prowling across the bed until she was sitting on her knees, straddling me. I froze, nervously, as she brought her hands up to my shoulders and started examing my chest with her fingertips. "I've seen you watching me, I know you want me."

I had a little trouble finding my voice at first, but I finally managed to choke out, "No."

She laughed at this. Not her normal, a little too loud laugh, but a deeper, slightly more seductive laugh. It registered in my brain as slightly evil. Pulling herself up a little more, she took one hand and gently lined my jaw with those magic fingertips. I didn't know how much more of this I could take. It was then that she decided to kiss me. I steeled myself as much as I could, but I couldn't exactly pull back as she had me up against the headboard. I froze again as she took my bottom lip into her mouth. Oh, this was too much. I couldn't help but kiss her back.

As soon as I did that, I realized what I was doing and pushed her away. She looked at me, surprised. "Amy, get out."

She smirked again and leaned back towards me, resting her forearms on my shoulders and watching my eyes. "Come on, Adam..."

As she leaned in again, I shoved her away again, more bodily. She fell back into a sitting postion, looking surprised. In a split second, there was another dull thud, but this time on the door. I looked up, surprised. "Shit, that's Jay."

I jumped off the bed, not wanting Jay to see Amy and I sitting on the bed together, and looked to the door. There was about thirty seconds of silence, so I went to double check what the noise was. The peephole was blocked and I had a pretty good idea what was happening. I cast a glance back to Amy - she was watching me, confused. I pulled the door open and, with cat-like reflexes, caught Jay as the door he was leaning on for support disappeared on him. I looked up to Jeff, who now was standing across from me, arms out as if to catch Jay, looking very surprised.

"Uh, hey, Adam."

Jay quickly composed himself and brushed off my attempts to hold him up. "Hey, Adam, I was just about to come in for the night."

"I bet you were," I said, trying to hide a smile.

"I thought you were sleeping, I didn't mean to wake -"

Jeff, being the observant one he is, noticed Amy quickly. I could tell from the sour look that crossed his face. Jay, however, realized it midsentence. I'm sure this didn't look good, me in my boxers with Amy on my bed. At least she was dressed, this could have gotten ugly quick.

"Um, Ah'm goin' t'see how Matt's doin'," Jeff drawled, rather pointedly. I couldn't tell who he was trying to sound accusatory to, me or Amy. I examined the ground, sighing. Jay followed him into the hallway for a second and I heard some hushed whispering, then Jay came back and tried to close the door behind him. He would have suceeded, but I held up my hand and stopped the door. Jay looked at me confused, but I turned my attention to Amy.

"Get out," I said sharply. Her eyes narrowed.

"No."

Jay watched us, confused.

"Look, it's too late, I don't want to deal with this right now. Jay and I want to go to sleep. It's that simple. Get out."

"No."

"I'm not giving you an option."

"You don't really want me to leave."

"Actually," I shrugged, "yeah, I do."

"Why doesn't Jay go stay in my room with Jeff," she smirked, "and I'll stay here."

Jay looked up, suddenly angry. "All right, I've heard enough."

He crossed over to her and reached to pull her up but she stopped him with a strong, "Don't touch me."

Jay hesitated, then threw his hands up and laid down on his bed. "This is my room. Don't order me around."

Amy looked at me, expecting me to do something about him. I dropped my hands, too, and let the door fall shut. Sighing, I crossed the room slowly and sat on the bed next to Jay. "Hey, don't look at me, I agree with him."

Jay rolled onto his back, looking up at me. "Can I just ask what the hell is going on?"

"What?"

"Why is she here? Harassing me, none the less." He looked to Amy. "Got a problem with me and Jeff? At least we're faithful."

"Like you have a choice, Jay," Amy responded, dryly. Jay went to sit up, but I pushed him back down again, shaking my head no.

"Are you quite finished?" I asked, harshly.

"Prolly not," Amy smirked again, turning to Jay. "Got a problem with my faithfulness?"

"Not so much my problem as yours."

Amy rolled her eyes. "This isn't even your business."

"How's that?" I asked, surprised she had actually said that.

"It's between Matt and me."

"And Matt's friends who have to see him suffer," Jay piped up again, now rolling away from us.

"God!" She groaned, falling back herself now and sprawling out on my bed. "It's not even that big of a deal, really."

"How can you say that?"

"I'm young, and -"

"You're twenty six. That's not that young."

"I'm young enough not to be tied down. Matt was too..."

"Nice?" Jay supplied.

"Caring?" I added.

"Loving?"

"Romantic?"

"Faithful?"

"Encumbering," she answered, finally, in a resolute voice.

"Encumbering?!" I was incredulous.

"Here's a thought, if you wanted to be able to sleep with other men, you should have broken up with Matt first, **then** slept with other men."

Amy cast a dirty look at Jay's back. "Maybe later, after I've sown my wild oats, I'll go back to Matt, but for now -"

"If Matt would take you back after what ever your 'wild oats' entail, I'd kick his ass myself," Jay growled. "As much as I love the kid, he'd better have more common sense than that."

"Oh, what would you know about common sense?" Amy asked, obviously getting annoyed. Her level of insults was dropping quickly.

"Why are you here, Amy? After Matt and Jeff kicked you out..."

"Matt didn't kick me out."

Jay sat up and turned to Amy, looking like he'd hit her if he could. "You're pretty fucking proud of that, aren't you?"

"Fuck you, Jay."

Jay stood up, which, surprisingly, caused Amy to flinch.

"I've had it. I know why you're here." Jay turned to me. "I'm leaving, man. If you fuck her.... that's just low. Real fucking low."

"You don't know what you're talking about, Jay," I said, jumping to my feet.

"I just know what I see," Jay said, standing his ground in front of me. He watched me for a second, almost looking sad, then shoved past me. "I'll leave the decision up to you."

"Jay -" I started in a pleading tone. He didn't think I would... Ah, shit. Would I?

Jay stopped when he go to the door and turned back towards us. "Way to kick Matt while he's down, Amy."

With that he slammed the door behind him and left. Christ, I was so sure that I could resist, but Jay usually knew me better than I knew myself and if he didn't think I could... I ran a hand through my hair nervously and dropped back down onto Jay's bed. "Jesus Christ."

After a silent moment of staring at my hands folded in my lap, I heard the bed that Amy was on shifting. Good, maybe she was leaving.

"Adam," she practically whispered, climbing onto Jay's bed next to me. Dammit, no such luck. I ignored her, so she began running her fingers through my hair slowly. As well as I could, I fought any pleasure that could possibly be derived from that. Noticing this, she tried to push me further and started kissing my neck.

"Amy!" I yelled, pushing her away. "Do you ever quit?"

"No," she grinned, moving towards me again.

"You have no remorse whatsoever?"

"Matt's overreacting," she shrugged. My jaw dropped and I just watched her. She frowned slightly and sat back on her heels. "Everyone's overreacting. Just look at Jay! He used to be a good friend. Jeff's hardly talking to me... Jesus, Adam, it was just a little harmless fun."

"Apparantly it wasn't as harmless as you'd like to think."

"You're the only one who's still being nice to me."

"This is nice?"

She shrugged. "Comparatively. And I wanted to show you how much I appreciate it."

With that, she pounced on me again, knocking me back. It was surprisingly difficult to resist a beautiful woman crouched over you. She kissed me again. Startled, I let her. My mind showed me the trailer for what an NC-17 evening I could have with a woman I hadn't been able to get out of my head for the past year or so. Happy that I hadn't shoved her away yet, Amy decided to press her luck and bring back the magic fingertips. I moaned softly at her touch. This was impossible. How did I wind up here? The memory of Matt struggling to hide his tears this afternoon flashed in my head and I suddenly shoved her away and sat up.

"No, Amy."

"Adam..."

"Matt's one of my best friends, I can't believe that you are so fucking heartless. I never saw this coming from you."

"But... you..."

"It doesn't really matter how I feel about you, Amy. You're a bitch." I got up, grabbed a pair of cargo pants I had thrown on the floor earlier, and slid into them. Looking over the room shortly, I found the key Amy had recently returned to me laying on the nightstand, so I grabbed that and dropped it in my pocket. "If you won't leave, I'm going to have to."

I looked back up to her again. She was still on her hands and knees on Jay's bed, her eyes wide with shock.

"No, wait, Adam! Don't -!"

I set my hand on the doorknob, sliding on my sandals that I'd left at the door. "Leave me alone, Amy."

"Goddammit, Adam!"

But I ignored her as I let the door fall shut behind me and examined the ground with a sigh.

"That took longer than I expected."

I jumped back, looking up quickly. "Jesus, Jay, that's enough. My nerves are shot tonight."

He grinned and pushed off the wall across the hall he was leaning on. "How're you doing?"

"All things considered, pretty well."

"Yeah?"

"...but I could use a stiff drink..."

Jay laughed, putting a hand on my shoulder and leading me down the hall. "Sure, man, on me this time."

"Wait, don't you think I should at least put on a shirt first?"

"Since when are you Mr. Modesty?"

I smacked Jay playfully on the back of the head. "If we're going to a bar..."

"Nah, too expensive. If I'm paying, we're just going to raid the mini-bar in Matt and Jeff's room." Jay grinned, and I shook my head with a smile.

"I should have guessed."

"Hey, they're not going to use it."

"And it gives you an excuse to see Jeff?"

Jay shrugged. "It works out all around."

I shook my head again, then sighed, and ran my hand through my hair.

"Hey, are you really doing ok?"

"Yeah, yeah. That wasn't quite what I expected."

"Wasn't quite what anyone expected."

I looked at Jay and asked the question that'd been weighing on me since Jay left the room. "You really thought I was going to sleep with her?"

Jay grinned from ear to ear. "Not after I said that."

I went to hit him again, but he ducked, still grinning. "You did the right thing, man."

"I know." I walked in silence for a second. "Was Jeff mad?"

"At Amy. He knows you better than that."

I smiled weakly. "That makes me feel a little better. I was afraid he was going to run back to Matt and tell him that his best friend was banging his cheating ex."

"You know Jeff, he wouldn't do that."

Jay came to a stop in front of a door where I could faintly hear Pearl Jam playing. Matt consoling himself, I assumed. "So now I get to comfort the man who loves the girl who was just trying to jump my bones?"

Jay smirked. "Go to it, champ."

I raised my hand to knock on the door.

"At least this will be easier than dealing with Amy."

"Like I always say. Men are less complicated. More fun."

"Thanks, Jay."

"Maybe you should try us sometime."

I just shook my head, trying to hide a smile, and knocked on the door.


End file.
